Closure member



April 2, 1963 s, sH s 3,083,748

I CLOSURE MEMBER Filed NOV. 16, 1960 I f V'IIIIIIIIIIWII Inve 2173302" Sinai"? T Shears,

Hwy

United States Patent 3,053,743 CLGSlJl-Jl MEMBER Stuart T. Shears, Belmont, Mass, assi lor to United-Carr Fastener Corporation, Cambridge, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 69,597 3 Claims. (til. ISO-42) This invention relates to closures and more particularly to closures used with foldable receptacles such as wallets, billfolds and the like.

An object of the invention is to provide a billfold closure having male and female fastener elements capable of disengagement by partial rotation in either direction of either the male or female element.

A further object of the invention is to provide a billfold closure which will lie on the same plane as the two flaps joined by said closure.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a billfold closure which pressure on either the male or female element will engage.

Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious, and will, in part, appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan View of the male and female elements of the closure;

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of the male element in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the female element of the closure;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the closure assembled to a pass case; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, there is shown a closure comprising a male element ill and a female element 12. The said male element lit comprises a substantially flat, rectangular base portion 14 and a tubular engaging portion 16. The said base portion l4 has a forward edge 18 integral with said tubular engaging portion 16. A method of forming said tubular engaging portion 16 is to have a flat piece extending from said forward edge 18 and roll or bend the piece into a tubular form as required. The said tubular engaging portion 16 is located with its mid point lengthwise on the same line as the mid point, lengthwise of said base port-ion 14 and the length of said base portion 14 is comparatively greater than the length of said tubular engaging portion 16. Naturally the male element it may be formed of a plastic material and under these circumstances, the said tubular engaging portion '16 may be molded at the same time the base portion is formed. Preferably, said tubular engaging portion 16 is not formed as a closed annulus but rather has a slot running its full length as indicated in FIG. 2. The axis of said tubular engaging portion 16 is in spaced parallel relationship with said forward edge 13. The said tubular engaging portion 16 is open at both its terminal ends to form engaging walls 24 The said female element 12 comprises a flat, substantially rectangular bottom plate 2-2, a pair of arms 24- and a pair of connector portions 26. Each of said connector portions 26 is in substantially right angle, integral relationship with an end of said bottom plate 22 and with an arm 24 as shown in FIG. 2. Each of said arms 24 is in spaced, substantially parallel relationship with a portion of said bottom plate 22 and in opposed, spaced relationship with the other. The said arms '24 have free terminal ends curled back on themselves to form a split ring 28.

The male element It? and the female element =12 may be attached to a billfold, pass case or the like as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in the following manner. The pass case comprises a rear wall 30 bent at its terminal ends to ice form a short panel member which has been skived and a long panel member 34. When said rear wall is bent both the said short panel member 32 and the long panel member 34 overlie in spaced superposed relationship the remaining portion of said rear wall 30 and the free terminal ends of said short panel member 32 and said long panel member 34 are placed in close proximity with both of said panels lying on substantially the same plane. As shown at FIG. 4, the said male element It) of the closure is attached to said short panel member 32 in such a manner that said base portion 14 is concealed by the material of said short panel member 32 and said tubular engaging portion 16 extends beyond the free tenninal end of said short panel member 32. The said female element 12 is attached to said long panel member 34 in such a manner as to conceal by use of the material of said long panel member 34 the bottom plate 22, the connector portions 26 and the major portions of the arms 24. This concealment is done in such a way as to allow a free space between the split rings 28 of the arms '24. This attachment is accomplished so that no part of the female element 12 extends beyond the free terminal end of said long panel member 34. There are numerous methods of folding the material of the panels to accomplish th results herein set forth all of which would be familiar to anyone in the wallet, pass case and other kindred arts.

To engage the said male element 10 and the female element 12 after attachment to the panels, the tubular engaging portion 16 of said male element is passed between the split rings 28 of said arms 24. The width of said tubular engaging portion 16 being equal to or slightly greater than the distance between said split rings 28. The said split rings 28 and the said arms 24 are flexed away from each other by the engaging walls 29 until the said split rings 28 pass beyond the first portion of said engaging walls 20 contacted until the bight 36 of each of said split wing 28 is circumscribed by said engaging wall 20. The closure is now locked in position until disengaged. The closure may be disengaged by holding either the male element or the said female element in position while bending one of the terminal ends of either the base portion 14 or the bottom plate 22 away from the element held in position. This action will unsnap the fastener. It should be noted that it will suflice to hold some part of the panel rather than the fastener part itself.

The present method of fastening the panel members in pass cases or the like is through the use of a concealed base portion having a fastener stud attached thereto and a concealed bottom plate having a snap fastener socket attached thereto and then snapping them together in the ordinary manner. In this case, of course, one of the two fastener elements will be superimposed on the other and the only method of unfastening is to pull downward on the element on which the super position takes place, practically impossible in most cases, or to lift up on the superposing element. The applicants closure does away with the difficulty of having one panel superposed on the other. In the particular art in which we are concerned, the neatness of appearance and styling is of great im portance. In the applicants device all parts lying on the same plane and only a small amount of the fastener being visible to the eye makes for a very simple and efficient assembly.

Since certain other obvious modifications may be made in this device without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained herein be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A fastener device of the class described comprising a male element and a female element, said male element having a base portion and a tubular engaging portion open at both its termini, extending from one edge of said base portion and said female element having a bottom plate and a pair of arms in spaced relation to said bottom plate, each of said arms having a free curled terminal end arranged a closer distance relative to each other than the length of said tubular engaging portion, said engaging portion having Walls at opposite ends for separably engaging said curled terminal ends. 2. A fastening device of the class described comprising a male element and a female element, said male element having a fiat substantially rectangular base portion and a tubular engaging portion at one edge, said base portion having a leading edge integral with said tubular engaging portion, said tubular engaging portion open at 'both its termini, said female element having a flat substantially rectangular bottom plate and a pair of flexible arms, said bottom plate having a pair of terminal edges, each of said terminal edges integral with one of said arms, said arms in spaced parallel relation to a portion of said bottom plate and each of said arms having a free, terminal end curled :back on itself and in opposed spaced relation to each other, said engaging portion having a length approximately equal to the distance between said free terminal ends, said free terminal ends engaging the open ends of said tubular engaging portion whereby said male element and said female element are separably engaged. 3. The combination of a pass case, Wallet, billfold or the like and a fastening device, said pass case comprising a back wall bent to form a pair of panel members having 4 a free terminal ends, said panel members lying on the same plane and said terminal ends lying in close proximity to each other, said fastening device comprising a male element and a female element, said male element having a base portion and an engaging portion extending from said base portion and said female element having a bottom plate and a pair of arms in spaced relation to said bottom plate and each of said arms having a free curled terminal end, said engaging portion having means for engaging said curled terminal ends, the base portion of said male element embedded within one terminal end of said pass case and the bottom plate of said female element embedded Within the remaining terminal end and said male engaging portion and said curled terminal ends of said female element being the only portions of said fastening device exposed whereby the said terminal ends may be separately engaged to each other by said fastening device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 278,346 Long May 29, 1883 1,499,428 Wagner July 1, 1924 2,208,158 Hiscoek July 16, 1940 2,653,686 Routt Sept. 29, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 379,766 France Nov. 19, 1907 100,915' Great Britain July 27, 1916 

1. A FASTENER DEVICE OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED COMPRISING A MALE ELEMENT AND A FEMALE ELEMENT, SAID MALE ELEMENT HAVING A BASE PORTION AND A TUBULAR ENGAGING PORTION OPEN AT BOTH ITS TERMINI, EXTENDING FROM ONE EDGE OF SAID BASE PORTION AND SAID FEMALE ELEMENT HAVING A BOTTOM PLATE AND A PAIR OF ARMS IN SPACED RELATION TO SAID BOTTOM PLATE, EACH OF SAID ARMS HAVING A FREE CURLED TERMINAL END ARRANGED A CLOSER DISTANCE RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER THAN THE LENGTH OF SAID TUBULAR ENGAGING PORTION, SAID ENGAGING PORTION HAVING WALLS AT OPPOSITE ENDS FOR SEPARABLY ENGAGING SAID CURLED TERMINAL ENDS. 